ryanjury

And TBH if it is a hybrid it is next to impossible to try and figure out what it is crossed with because most of our fish in the country are hybrids so it could be a hybrid x hybrid that has throw back to resemble who knows what in its lineage..

lol not definite but probably in NZ Anyway you would need some better pics and to have the fish coloured up before anyone could guess as to what the fish might be.. Where did you get it from and what did you buy it as?

Yes your right Smidey, HFF had some not many survived importation and they sold fast, I went into store as soon as I found out they were there but they were gone I have known a few people with them over the years but they have been hyper aggressive and males usually always killed their partner before any successful breeding occured Although I may be getting them confused with sexfasciatus which were around at the same time..

That is interesting.. Have you contacted them to see if they still have some and verify if they had the real deal to begin with?

I have seen neither in NZ, I have heard from a reliable source that multis were imported but they all died before breeding..

I think you may end up with issues if you have lost a female because you have such a small colony (am I right in assuming you now have 2m 2f?). However there is only way way to find out and that is to see what happens, if your alpha is pretty laid back and manages to keep things under control without going overboard and the tank is big enough with plenty of hiding places then it should be sweet. Otherwise it might be a ticking time bomb.

lol no not ready at all unfortunately

What fish were you thinking of getting and what size tank do you have?

Sweet its just a 3ft unit so shouldn't take up much room Let me know if you end up coming up and if we will sort something out it would be awesome.. What are you sending me Mark? :nfs:

A light from buzzy.. What type of car are you considering?

Bumping on the off chance someone is making this trip anytime soon

They may be ok in the same tank, but I would think there would be some aggression between them all as they all compete for the same space in the bottom of the tank or the prime cave etc to try and breed in. Apistos are completely different to africans, africans live in large schools in the wild apistos are relatively solitary only really coming together to breed, while it would sort of achieve the same thing if you were to dump 100 apistos in a tank to spread aggression it wouldn't really with a few pairs. Just my 2c worth though I would be interested to hear how they go, I would also suggest it is allot of money to spend on some really nice fish when you wont be breeding them and the odds of them apistoing are quite high.

How many tanks do you have now Joe? Looks like your getting quite a collection..

Guess its one of those things that is hard to deal with.. I think that blue rams are classified as high risk now so they will need a 6 week quarantine, so they lasted at least 6 weeks in quarantine (with minimal losses across the batch) and then made it to a LFS and then to be sold to you. So it is hard to say they were sick or in unwell in anyway? I am not sure how the shops and quarantine facilities keep these guys alive but I certainly didn't have the knack for it.

You could get 1 if you wanted but it would be pretty boring if it was a female.. Generally you are best to get 6-10 if you wanted a colony and that price is pretty good lol I paid $90ea retail for my first dragonsbloods unsexed at 3-4cm when they first got into the country.

The picture of the fry you can already see that most pictured are the peachy colour so most likely dragonsbloods. Some people also grade their "quality" by the number of black blotches that they have on them but that is just a matter of personal preference. I quite like the dragonsbloods and keep and breed a few of them but again being a hybrid it is just personal preference and what you like

Who knows then Maybe his have been crossed with a golden one at some stage in their linage to cause them to be a lighter fish? Thats the problem with the ancistrus (and other fish we have in the country) sometimes fish sold as the same thing can be made up of completely different species so vary in apperance etc. I know I had 2 different "strains" of brown bristlenoses and one lot got far bigger than the other lot with far bigger bristles etc and had different spots and stuff, but as far as I knew they were both just random brown bristlenoses.

I have had no luck with keeping these even when I managed to get some good quality NZ bred ones they didn't last long and I have tried all sorts. Some people are lucky but they don't usually last long for most people

Fry colour can be very subjective, if you have the fish in a bare bottomed tank with good light then the fish can appear allot lighter than they do on substrate or in darker tanks, even foods can change the colour slightly when they are that small.

The fish pictured are what is sold as a dragonsblood peacock in NZ, just make sure you only take the peach coloured ones as they sometimes through some random looking brown ones. They are a man made hybrid that has been named and breeds relatively true. Because they are a hybrid they can take all sorts of colour forms and are often sold as strawberry peacocks or any other made up name.. This profile is about the best you can get them. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1315 My only concern with dealing with this person is the seem to be lacking in knowledge and in the pic of the parent fish there is a brown female in there. Which could be the same species or a different peacock species although so might be issues if they are breeding in this tank, however the fry look good, just don't take any brown ones if they haven't culled them.

You can also feed decapsulated brine shrimp which is another good food for young fry.

Sorry wasn't much help with those ones.. Jullies http://www.google.co.nz/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=julidochromis&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1366&bih=649&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=DiRoT8DkOIbKmQXLveDnCA Shellies http://www.google.co.nz/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=julidochromis&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1366&bih=649&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=DiRoT8DkOIbKmQXLveDnCA#um=1&hl=en&safe=off&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=lamprologus+ocellatus&oq=lamprologus&aq=0&aqi=g10&aql=&gs_sm=3&gs_upl=24276l26290l0l27276l11l11l0l2l2l1l717l4789l3-1.3.4.1l9l0&gs_l=img.3.0.0l10.24276l26290l0l27277l11l11l0l2l2l1l717l4789l3-1j3j4j1l9l0.frgbld.&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=d3224be6cadb4367&biw=1366&bih=649 Leleupi http://www.google.co.nz/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=julidochromis&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1366&bih=649&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=DiRoT8DkOIbKmQXLveDnCA#um=1&hl=en&safe=off&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=leleupi&oq=leleupi&aq=f&aqi=g5g-S5&aql=&gs_sm=3&gs_upl=13388l14998l2l15203l7l7l0l1l1l0l598l2708l2-1.0.3.2l6l0&gs_l=img.3..0l5j0i24l5.13388l14998l2l15203l7l7l0l1l1l0l598l2708l2-1j0j3j2l6l0.frgbld.&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=d3224be6cadb4367&biw=1366&bih=649

I agree with all of the above.. I wouldn't recommend dems/yellows for that sized tank they will outgrow it unless you are very lucky, I have read suggestions of cramming dems into small tanks to curb aggression but it is no something I have tried or would recommend. Yellows you might get away with but again they get quite big too, not overly aggressive though. Maybe you could try some tangs? A nice pair of jullies (start out with a group and thin them out) or leleupi or even some shellies might be cool?

+1 just feed what you feed the adults, if you get really serious you can feed then NLS grow.

Hi and welcome Unfortunately there aren't many malawis suitable for a 620T they just don't have much footprint for terriotories. You could do a colony of yellows in there and maybe a colony of dems but I think you would be pushing it for them, again you could try some peacocks but they would probably outgrow it as well You can generally add fish at different times in a malawi tank providing you are adding different fish, and you do a rearrange of the rockwork at the same time. Ie you could add some electric yellows and then add some peacocks, fish don't tend to be as aggressive towards fish from different groups because they aren't seen as a big threat.